While the diary is not signed internal evidence
shows the diary was kept by a man named Gerald A. Walsdorf. At two different
times in the diary, there are entries that point to this idea: at one time the
diary writer is asked if he is the only "Walsdorf in San Diego." On
another occasion, fellow students say "Ou
var to Mr. Walsdorf."

Our diarist is a young male, perhaps
in his late 20's, and he lives in either San Diego, California, or its suburbs.
He is working as a high school teacher and also appears to be attending school
himself, perhaps a graduate student. He regularly writes about how either his
day at work or his day at school went, and often mentions that he has to take
exams, or study for class. He attends faculty meetings, goes to conventions. At
one point he mentions having to create a high school French test for his French
class at work. He mentions attending State College, presumably San Diego State
University.

The city directory for San Diego in
1967 lists only one Walsdorf in San Diego, his name is Gerald A. Walsdorf, and
he is listed as a teacher at Sweetwater High School. An online obituary for
Gerald A. Walsdorf states he was born on 2 February 1933 at Oconomowoc,
Wisconsin, and moved to California in 1955, presumably for his military service.
He served for a brief time in the United States Marines as an officer until
1960. While in the military, Gerald married a woman by the name of Sharon I.
Ritchie in 1956. After he left military service he took a position at
Sweetwater High School in San Diego as a teacher. He retired in 1988 and died
on 28 December 2013 at San Diego and was buried at Miramar National Cemetery.

This biographical information for
Gerald A. Walsdorf from his obituary matches information we were able to find
in the diary.

When the diary opens our writer is
in a relationship with a woman named Marilyn, possibly Marilyn Welshams, as her
name is written on the inside front flyleaf of the diary. The inside front and
rear flyleaves also act as a random index, where he writes short phrases, or
names, and dates, whereby one could then look at that date in the diary for
further details.

Mr. Walsdorf, our diary writer,
lives about 30 minutes from Marilyn, who seems to live in the Claremont area of
San Diego. Walsdorf is also married to a woman by the name of Sharon. While
separated from his wife, they still see each other and have sexual relations.
He eventually signs their house over to her, and he moves out. He takes summer
courses at Reno. By the end of the book he is in a relationship with a woman
named Fran Lowe. Throughout the diary he has numerous sexual relations with
other women, including while he is in his “steady” relationships. The various
women all seem to know of the other relationships and do not mind all that
much.

The diary shows life in Southern
California during the sexual revolution that was taking place in America.
Promoted by the Beatniks in the 1950s and advanced by the “Hippies” later in
the 1960s, this aspect of the counterculture became a national movement
culminating in the “Summer of Love” in San Francisco in 1967. Our diary writer
is constantly bar hopping with his wife, girlfriends, etc., meeting women,
bedding them, and moving on. He makes trips down to "Teatown" or
Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego.

Walsdorf has a voracious, if not
obsessive, sexual appetite, for days on end with different partners every day,
and in between he "takes care of himself" once or twice, or as we see
in one case, three times. He uses the symbol “♂” to indicate if he had sexual
intercourse with a woman. He usually then writes the woman's full name and
draws a box around it, perhaps as some kind of easy reference for himself.

A continuous ten day sample of the
diary shows the behavior of the diary writer:

“November 6, [1963] Get haircut – buy a
steak for myself & cook it at home – go to class – call Fran & go to
Oyster at 8:30 – Fran real glad to see me – she is high as usual for Wed. –
Giny makes out with me – Fran wants me on a leash – we go to Bar of Music –
Giny & Don also another Fran & Mr. Lambardo – we leave last about 11:30
– At home I find Fran is having her period – However, she likes me so much we
do ♂ (very good) after long session of petting – get sheets red.”

November 7, [1963] Good day in school –
Fran calls at 4:00 & asks me over to diner – I sleep from 4:00 -5:30 –
S[haron]calls – wants me to pick her up at Marsi – I go S is sick & in
rather poor humor – pick up pictures – at Fran’s by 6:30 – have chicken – we
lie on bed with clothes on & discuss life – Nick is out so I move my car –
Fran tells me that Jack was her married lover – Fran tells me about Nick &
how he left her 2 years ago at Xmas – how he wrecked the place & beat her
–Korea hero with Silver Star – Fran makes out grade cards for me – we do ♂
again on towel – just so so she is still flowing a lot – we slap well – no kids
in bed tonight – I leave with thought that I will not see her till Sat.”

“November 8 [1963] Good day at school –
come home & sleep till 6:00 – eat [at] home – go to MCRP about 8:15 – see
[Elisa] Bell then I begin seeing all my old girl friends & I try to stay
away from them – see Susan Newton (she seems to want me I ditch her)-see Joyce – Fran came in with her two girl
friends & dates – tells me not to find any strange women – Mary C. comes in
& later when she is drunk talks to me & tries to get me to dance etc. –
JoAnn Light also still after me – I dance with her then ditch her – Jean
Keating there too don’t talk to her – JoAnn Hotel tries to get me early but I
buy out – meet Darlene from state college area again – teacher Cynthia [Deck]
there with date – dance with Joan teacher C U elem (cute) & Martha girl
with small regular – finally nail down JoAnn Hotel – we have several ♂ during
the night including 69 however not as good as last Friday.”

“November 9 [1963] JoAnn leaves about
10:30 – take her picture –today I feel I can get almost any female – go to
S[haron] at noon – have eggs & toast -mow her lawn – Call Fran at noon – order corsage of yellow roses – make
out grades – arrive Fran Lowe at 3:00 we leave for Stardust at 6:45 – eat filet
there (too much) – take remainder home – sit at table with Dave Meeker, Ike
Weatherall Freeman, Herbert, etc – good time by all – I really twist it up –
beautiful cake – I take pictures – we walk around Stardust - - We leave - about
12:15 with Ike for The Anchor all marines there – Marine Cpl. Gets in fight
with Sgt. – he asks us to witness it – buys us drinks – we leave a 2:00 home by
2:30 no ♂ till morning.”

“November 10 [1963] Lie around in bed and
do ♂ - kids come in room – have breakfast – seduce Fran in afternoon & have
great ♂ - at 3:00 go to La Mesa Park again play tennis (Fran better) – play
football with kids – leave around 5:00 – get groceries – I pick up Eddie in
N.C. while Fran cooks – have hamburgers – Fran comes to my place to pick up a
card I forgot we neck on my bed –almost don’t make it back – show movies of
dogs etc. – I show prehistoric animal to Phil (filmstrip) – go to bed at 9:00 –
talk about love & serious subjects – I wake up Fran later & have ♂Fran asks me over for Thanksgiving.”

“November 11 [1963] Leave about 7:30 for
Joes – sleep in morning – go to Sharon about 11:00 have eggs etc at S
(beautiful day) spend all day working on Harding paper – S works on my French
papers – S attacks me have quick businesslike ♂ -have casserole for dinner at S
– I leave around 7:00 – find that Fran had called at 11:30 – call her & ask
her over – have ♂ with myself & sleep till 9:45 when Fran calls –Fran
arrives at 10:15 make fried eggs for her – go to Fran have trouble with ♂ so I
go into my reasons for leaving her – Fran cries a great deal – tell her about
my affair with pro in Palm Springs & my sex life – I tell Fran I want her
even if she won’t sleep with me – she says she will stop having ♂ with me –
Fran sleeps poorly.”

“November 12 [1963] Frankisses me & leaves I go into spare room
& have ♂ - hand out grades today – faculty meeting after school – Stone has
meeting there which last till 8:00 have chicken dinner in ladies room – try to
get opera tickets at College Grove too late – call Fran at 8:15 – ask her if I
may come over – Fran to call back – feel very mature about this love affair –
Fran comes over to Joe’s house at 10:00 – I sleep till 10:00 – we look at all
my picture albums – we go to bed – I don’tknow if she wants me after what we said Mon. – I get hot – tell her to
leave if she wants too, however she wants me & we have ♂ - Fran leaves in
morning.”

“November 13 [1963] Late to school by 7
minutes – good day in school – I go to class – work on paper for Fran – get
books on Harding – go to S. D. Library after school – call Fran from school –
tell her to come over from bowling – Fran arrives at 9:30 – we eat cheese
sandwiches – go to bed – have fair ♂ - in morning we do 69. Fran real late for
work Fran sure likes cokes- for breakfast
Fran says she would do anything for me.”

“November 14 [1963] Very good day in
school. Fran forgets her hose girdle & papers – I call her about 5:00 – she
asks me about my date for opera & what I’m doing Friday night – I feel
trapped. Take papers to her shoes to Fran at 6:30 – pick up Eleanor Godels she
is wearing low cut sexy dress (black) – I get the hots – See Queen of Spades at
the Fox – everybody dressed to kill – opera rather boring –we leave at 11:00 –
go right to Joe’s – I come almost right away ♂ - we sleep for awhile – take her
home at 1:00 –feel detached from sex – don’t know why – I want only impersonal
sex.”

“November 15 [1963] Good day in school –
call S for date – work till 6:00 on various things – take S to the Beachboy –we
have good meal (I steak) S (mali-mali) –sexy waitress – tight black dress white
blouse – at MCRD by 8:00 – all marines there in dress blues for change of
command – meet Rachel – nurse L.B.- Pauline, Leann –black – Mimi (girl I met on
beach….) – Joe’s there with Gwenda & Penny. I get drunk –really make out –
take Penny outside (she has period) JoAnn Hotel tries to get me – I say I will
take her home then I leave her for Joann Light – Hotel asks me to play – go to
Light’s place – she loves me she says etc etc – I get her pants off on sofa
& we do ♂ - I go to her bed but she doesn’t want – I finally leave about
6:00 in the morning – I’m really getting on top of the girls.”

The above entries represent only ten
days in our diary writer’s life. The entire diary is very similar, as far as his
sex life is concerned. As he writes, he’s “…really on top of the girls.”

It is unclear how far our diary
writer takes his sexual appetite. Our writer does occasionally drive Marilyn's
babysitter home with no mention of trying to bed the babysitter. He is a high
school teacher and is around a lot of young girls and at one point he takes a
trip to Palm Springs (CA) and while staying there for a couple of days and
trying to pick up women, he talks with a girl who is a high school student, but
he doesn't appear to take it any further. On the 28th of January [1963] our
writer mentions in his diary that he is "nervous because of Connie M in my
French class...German student even speaks French." The very next day he
writes "worried about German student in French."There are a couple of times when he writes in
his diary that it sounds like he is having sex at work, "Up late no
breakfast fair day at school do ♂ in room again at noon...." and "No
breakfast - good day at school - do ♂ in my room - I'm surprised I'm not
worrying more..." So it is not totally clear if our diary writer is
sleeping with his students too, but he may not to write about it in his diary –
for obvious reasons.

Walsdorf’s diary provides a look into America’s
changing social and sexual mores during the beginning of the sexual revolution
in Southern California.